Conservative David Brooks and liberal (?!) Ruth Marcus agree: Grandma should eat catfood

Social Security Phaseout seems to be the most popular idea among the Beltway Village. Washington Post's alleged liberal columnist Ruth Marcus took the place of Sleep Mark Shields on the PBS Newshour Friday as David "Bobo" Brooks' discussion partner on the Political Wrap (12/03/2010). Bobo and Ruth both agreed that the Catfood Commission's recommendations are wonderful, i.e., that Social Security should be phased out and Grandma left to live on catfood, if she can afford it. Both agreed that this is the only "adult" thing to do because of the terrible menace of the deficit. Neither mentioned that Social Security does not contribute to the deficit. Bobo quotes Lenin supposedly saying (in some context back in God-knows-when) that the worse things get, the better. Republican Leninism? Or just Bobo babbling?



We're seeing a serious breakdown among the political and media elite. What Robert Reich says at his blog in The Truth About the Federal Budget Deficit That Noone [sic] Is Willing to Tell 12/02/2010 applies to Ruth and Bobo's discussion as to much else:

Rarely before in American history has there been more disconnect between Washington and the rest of the nation. Washington is obsessing about the projected federal budget deficit. Everyone else in America is worried about jobs.

Bobo and Ruth both say they've noticed that Democratic base voters - or at least their few media colleagues who reflect those attitudes - are not pleased with President Obama's timidity. But Ruth seems to think that just means all Serious People need to think about the State of the Union message in January, the next landmark dramatic moment in the Village script.

Tags: social security, us economy